A wide range of farm implements have been developed and are presently in use for tilling, planting, harvesting, and so forth. Seeders or planters, for example, are commonly towed behind tractors and may cover wide swaths of ground which may be tilled or untilled. Such devices typically open the soil, dispense seeds in the opening, and reclose the soil in a single operation. To make the seeding operation as efficient as possible, very wide swaths may be covered by extending wing assemblies on either side of a center frame section of the implement being pulled by the tractor. Typically, each wing assembly includes one or more toolbars, various row units mounted on the toolbar(s), and one or more associated support wheels. The wing assemblies are commonly disposed in a “floating” arrangement during the planting operation, wherein hydraulic cylinders allow the implement to contact the soil with sufficient force to open the soil, dispense the seeds, and subsequently close the soil. For transport, the wing assemblies are elevated by the support wheels to disengage the row units from the ground and may optionally be folded, stacked, and/or pivoted to reduce the width of the implement.
To transition the wing assemblies from a transport position to a work or extended position, a wing movement operation is performed in which the assemblies are moved via control of the operation of the associated hydraulic cylinders to allow the wing assemblies to be unfolded relative to the center frame section of the implement and subsequently lowered relative to the ground. A reverse operation may be performed to transition the wing assemblies from the extended position to the transport position in which the wing assemblies are raised relative to the ground and subsequently folded towards the center frame section of the implement.
At times, folding and unfolding of the wing assemblies may be resisted or impeded, preventing full performance of the wing movement operation. For example, ground irregularities may impede or even stop the movement of the support wheels of the wing assemblies. Similarly, friction between the various joints or couplings of the wing assemblies or frame may resist the folding or unfolding movement. In response, the operator of the work vehicle may manually drive it forward or rearward to assist. However, driving the work vehicle too fast or too slow could damage the frame or hydraulic cylinders of the implement. Additionally, manually controlling the movement of the work vehicle may interrupt the automatic process of folding and unfolding the wing assembly, reduce efficiency, increase operator fatigue, and/or increase the risk of damage to the implement.
Accordingly, a system and related methods for automatically actuating wing assemblies of an agricultural implement and automatically providing assistance with the associated work vehicle would be welcomed in the technology.